Big outstanding maintenance bill on first day of collecting keys! Help please

arambol

Tricky one this and I would appreciate your help.

I've just purchased a share of the freehold of a 2 bed flat. The property has 5 flats who each pay a £100 service charge every month and we also split maintenance bills between the 5 flats.

4 days before exchange and 2 weeks before the completion there was a problem discovered with a rotten roof beam above the top flat with an estimate for repairs of circa £8000.

The managing agent sent an email to the vendor and her solicitor informing her of this cost and her solicitor forwarded the email as an attachment to my solicitor. However my solicitor failed to open the attachment and read it or forward it on to me, so I was never aware of this problem and cost.

The lawyer has held his hands up and admitted he missed it but it's potentially left us out of pocket and tarnished what should have been the happy occasion of my first house purchase.

Now I have learnt from the managing agent that he emailed the vendor and her solicitor prior to exchange saying she was responsible and that her solicitor should withheld funds to cover the cost of works. The vendor then appears to have lied and said we were happy to pay it. Clearly this was not the case. It wasn’t our debt.

Its a mess. Who is responsible here?

The vendor and the solicitor knew about this cost before exchange so I believe according to the The Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 it's the existing leaseholders debt? Her debt? Is that correct?

Or is it our lawyer responsibilty? He is a good lawyer from a top London law firm and he's been very thorough throughout and while I understand mistakes happen he’s basically removed any opportunity to (at the very least) negotiate. We were reliant on him for information.

Any guidance would be great.

Thanks

Guest101

arambol wrote: »

Tricky one this and I would appreciate your help.

I've just purchased a share of the freehold of a 2 bed flat. The property has 5 flats who each pay a £100 service charge every month and we also split maintenance bills between the 5 flats.

4 days before exchange and 2 weeks before the completion there was a problem discovered with a rotten roof beam above the top flat with an estimate for repairs of circa £8000.

The managing agent sent an email to the vendor and her solicitor informing her of this cost and her solicitor forwarded the email as an attachment to my solicitor. However my solicitor failed to open the attachment and read it or forward it on to me, so I was never aware of this problem and cost.

The lawyer has held his hands up and admitted he missed it but it's potentially left us out of pocket and tarnished what should have been the happy occasion of my first house purchase.

Now I have learnt from the managing agent that he emailed the vendor and her solicitor prior to exchange saying she was responsible and that her solicitor should withheld funds to cover the cost of works. The vendor then appears to have lied and said we were happy to pay it. Clearly this was not the case. It wasn’t our debt.

Its a mess. Who is responsible here?

The vendor and the solicitor knew about this cost before exchange so I believe according to the The Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 it's the existing leaseholders debt? Her debt? Is that correct?

Or is it our lawyer responsibilty? He is a good lawyer from a top London law firm and he's been very thorough throughout and while I understand mistakes happen he’s basically removed any opportunity to (at the very least) negotiate. We were reliant on him for information.

Any guidance would be great.

Thanks

What on earth are you £6000 a year for if it doesnt include maintenance?!

To be fair, you will benefit from these works, not the seller.

DaftyDuck

arambol wrote: »

.....4 days before exchange and 2 weeks before the completion .......


..... However my solicitor failed to open the attachment and read it or forward it on to me, so I was never aware of this problem and cost.....

So, had the email been opened, and the information forwarded to you, you would have been free to renegotiate a price, pull out, or make some other choice.

The solicitor is at least partly responsible, and I suspect, having "held his hands up" may be ready for a firm and costly bottom-smacking.

TrickyDicky101

I don't think this is the vendor's fault here - their solicitor forwarded on full details of the cost and since you did not halt the purchase as far as they were concerned you were happy to foot the bill.

This is squarely on your solicitor.

moneyistooshorttomention

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

I don't think this is the vendor's fault here - their solicitor forwarded on full details of the cost and since you did not halt the purchase as far as they were concerned you were happy to foot the bill.

This is squarely on your solicitor.

That depends what way round you look at it.

We all know that we live in an inefficient country - so plenty of room for something to happen that the message re that never got to OP. That is exactly what happened.

On that basis - then I think the vendors should be looking at it that, unless they specifically got some sort of communication back from OP to the effect that they were fine with paying this bill, then they should assume that OP either wasn't fine with paying this bill or had never received this bill.

Non-communication from OP does NOT mean "Yep...okay...go ahead and assume I will take on the responsibility for it".

There is no agreement to something unless the person concerned has said "I agree" and I wouldn't be surprised if the law doesn't hold a similar view on that.

DaftyDuck

But the communication was received by the buyer's solicitor. At that point, the seller had more than discharged any legal, and certainly any moral responsibility.

csgohan4

I would get the maintenance bill back from the Lawyers, it's their fault, make sure you get evidence of this.

PlutoinCapricorn

Solicitors should have professional indemnity cover for just such occurrences.

G_M

The seller discharged their duty by informing the buyer via his solicitor.

Buyers (and/or their solicitors) do not have to aknowlege receipt of each communication, nor explicitly accept/reject the contents.

If the seller writes "there's a £100 pm service charge." the buyer does not have to reply "I agree to pay the £100 pm service charge."

This is down to the solicitor.

Make a formal complaint through their complaints procedure (it will be on their website or in the terms of business they originally sent you).

Claim the full cost.

If you get nowhere with them, either

* see a litigation solicior and sue them or
* complain via the SRA

Do not deal with this via the solicitor who did the work - escalate it up.

Thrugelmir

arambol wrote: »

The managing agent sent an email to the vendor and her solicitor informing her of this cost and her solicitor forwarded the email as an attachment to my solicitor.

What did this say/consist of?

Thrugelmir

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

We all know that we live in an inefficient country

Email must be a major cause of lower productivity. As it stops people from actually doing any work. Anything important should at the least be followed up by a telephone call.